Drug Use Outlined In Barry Trial

June 20, 1990|Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON -- Mayor Marion Barry was denounced as a crack-snorting master of ``deceit and deception`` and extolled as the victim of a federal prosecutor`s ``deal with the devil`` on Tuesday in opening statements in his cocaine and perjury trial.

The rhetorical fervor of the opposing descriptions from a federal prosecutor and Barry`s defense lawyer soon gave way as the prosecution began its case by detailing what it charged was a long-standing pattern of almost obsessive drug abuse by the embattled mayor.

By day`s end the first major witness, former Washington official Charles Lewis, was well-launched on an unusually detailed account of cocaine snorting and crack-smoking episodes with Barry in Washington and in the Virgin Islands.

If Lewis` testimony for the prosecution ends today, defense attorney R. Kenneth Mundy can be expected to rake him with a blistering cross-examination. Mundy is expected to attempt to discredit the government`s strategy of basing much of its case on witnesses who will say that they took drugs with Barry and supplied him with cocaine powder and crack.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard W. Roberts, a tall, soft-spoken man in wire spectacles, opened the trial with a tough statement in which he declared this `` is a case about deceit and deception ... to keep the public, the police and the grand jury from discovering the unfortunate but seamy truth: Marion Barry has been snorting crack and cocaine for years all over D.C.``

Speaking directly to a jury panel of 13 blacks and five whites, Roberts said: ``He`s been preaching to our community, `Down with dope,` and all the time he`s been putting dope up his nose ... This is the other side -- the secret side -- of Marion Barry.``

Roberts also summarized the evidence, much of it from former addicts, users and suppliers who agreed to help the prosecution after plea bargaining their own cases. The witnesses, Roberts conceded, ``are not all Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.``

That observation provided the main theme of Barry`s chief defender, Mundy.

``This case is about the deals the government has made with the devil,`` Mundy said.

``Seven years ago the government made a determination it was going to `get` Mr. Barry, and go to any lengths ... and any expense -- exhorbitant expense -- to make a case.``

Mundy denounced the opening star witness, Lewis, and model Rasheeda Moore, who lured Barry to the sting, as tainted by government pressure.